Rules on possessive nouns

[Lilibeth M. Ablanque]

Good day!

I am an English Teacher here in the Philippines. I can't help but ask you questions regarding the rules on possessive nouns. What I have been teaching is that when a singular possessive noun made up of two or more syllable ends with s ,add apostrophe only:
Ex. Dennis' guitar Maritess' blouse
When a singular possessive noun is made of one syllable only, add 's .
Ex. Cris's answer Jess's gun
However, some books published recently in the Philippines write:
If the singular possessive noun ends with s regardless of the number of syllables, add (') apostrophe only.
Other books even suggest that if the noun the noun ends with x , s or z ,just add the apostrophe only
Ex. Dax' homework Mrs. Cruz' class record

Please help me before I will make a mess . My 25 years of teaching career is at stake here.

Thank you and more power.

[Diverhank]

Here are the rules from Purdue University writing lab: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_apost.html

• add 's to the singular form of the word (even if it ends in -s):
the owner's car
James's hat

• add 's to the plural forms that do not end in -s:

the children's game
the geese's honking

• add ' to the end of plural nouns that end in -s:

houses' roofs
three friends' letters

• add 's to the end of compound words:

my brother-in-law's money
• add 's to the last noun to show joint possession of an object:

Todd and Anne's apartment

Sounds like those books are not quite right.

[Lilibeth M. Ablanque]

Thank you, diverhank...for your very quick reply, however you did not include in your reply the rules on singular nouns that are made up of two or more syllables.
For ex. Demosthenes, Maritess, Nemesis
Thanks in advance.

[Diverhank]

[Yankee]

Hi Lilibeth

The problem is that there are no 100% absolute rules for punctuation in English, and it seems there are often some fine points that even the "experts" can't agree on.
Here is something else that might you out, though:

http://www.bartleby.com/64/82.html
.
_________________
Amy
.
ESL teacher, and native speaker of American English